Edge of the Void
by Rotten Pears
Summary: Runeterra has fallen into chaos. The Runic core which lies at the heart of this wild world of magic has collapsed and it is only a matter of time before the entire world follows. Only a few of the great heroes of old remain to combat the rising darkness, but even the mightiest warrior cannot halt fate... at least, not on their own.
1. Preface

So this is the first fanfic that I've ever gotten around to publishing. I've started several others in the past, but I never was quite able to get the first chapter where I wanted it. This one kind of came out of left field while I was reading some fantastic LoL stories on this site and three days later I had this first chapter done. So here goes nothing, I guess!

All comments and criticism are more than welcome. I will be switching P.O.V. between chapters, so I can't accurately say yet which champions will be included. I plan to use quite a few of them though.

All characters and places in this story do NOT belong to me. They are the sole property of Riot.

And finally, if you're reading this story, thanks! I hope you enjoy it!


	2. Chapter 1: Chaos Fall

**Chaos Fall**

The end of the world had a purple sky. By day, it was the ostentatious bright purple of royalty, but the deep midnight hue that followed in its wake at night was far more beautiful and mystical. It covered the sky like an eternal blanket of twilight, a velvety soft shroud for the last gasps of a dying world.

A lone figure stood on the edge of a cliff facing out over the desert wasteland below, watching as the brighter hue of day give way to the near-black of night. Her long, white hair hung straight down her back in a single, thick braid which reached her shoulders. A large, intricately carved silver sickle hung from a simple belt loop at her waist. The strange armor she wore carried the same color and carvings similar to those on the sickle.

Small, violet pinpricks were now dotting the sky at broad intervals, marking where the strongest stars still managed to be seen through the shroud. Occasionally, a piece of the landscape far off would begin to slowly ascend into the air, fragmenting into hundreds of pieces as it reached the horizon and trailing streams of the bright, purple energy that had lifted it out of its millennia-old resting place. Looking out over the decaying landscape, Diana thought that she had never before seen a sky so heartbreakingly beautiful. Perhaps, she reflected wryly, that was just the universe's way of mocking them in their final days.

A sudden shift in the scorched earth upon which she stood interrupted her skygazing. With a single fluid motion she leapt towards a rocky outcropping which raised its head towards the dying sky and perched on top. Below, the ground heaved and shook, rippling as if one of the fearsome Xer'Sai were passing underneath. Diana still remembered the violent battles she and many others once fought against the creatures and had to repress an involuntary shudder. She had thought at that time that the Voidborn race was the most terrifying thing she'd ever had to face. Now she would gladly take on three of the fiends singlehandedly instead of the unstoppable threat that heaved and tore at the thin crust of her surface world.

"Diana!" called a voice from behind. Startled, she reacted on instinct and brought her sickle around in a graceful spinning move. Too late, she recognized the familiar voice and tried to stop herself in mid-swing; her silvery blade rang out across the desert as it met with a glowing, ancient sword. Fortunately, she did manage to reign in the lunar power which surged up her arm and prevent it from lashing out around the weilder's defense.

"Easy there," Kayle the Justicar- ex-Justicar, Diana corrected herself -cautioned. "You don't want to give people the impression that you scare easily, do you?" Her helmeted head leaned out to look around the locked blades at Diana with an unfathomable expression in her eyes. The self-proclaimed Lunarian opened her mouth to apologize, reconsidered, and shut it once more. _Which probably makes me look just as foolish as if I'd apologized in the first place,_ she reflected.

"What are you doing out here Kayle?" she asked curtly, trying to mask her embarrassment, "is there news from the camp?"

"I was sent to check on you," the winged warrior replied in her typical military cant, withdrawing her blade with a fluid motion and settling it back in its sheath. "There's a tremor running the ridge and a few of our number were concerned for your well-being. If this area begins to levitate, the cliff will likely be the first to go."

"I know that," Diana snapped, her eyes narrowing at the flying woman. "That's why I'm up here and not down there. The ground color hasn't changed yet, so I should be fine, correct?."

"Yes, for now," Kayle replied evenly. She studied Diana's aloof stance for a moment with a calm, calculating gaze, then sighed softly and continued in a slightly softer tone. "Look Diana, why don't you let someone relieve you? It would do you good to take a rest after today's march."

"I do not need to rest, thank you," Diana snapped. Kayle arched one eyebrow, but otherwise her face remained frustratingly calm, which only served to annoy the Lunarian even more.

"A warrior is only as strong as her mind," Kayle said quietly.

"My mind is strong enough, Justicar," Diana replied hotly, "as is my arm and blade."

Kayle said nothing for a moment, but the critical gaze she leveled at Diana made the Lunar disciple squirm uncomfortably under her armor.

"I'll bring you something from the fire anyway," she said at last. "If you're going to stay out all night, the least we can do is make sure you don't starve before the morning."

Diana had no reply. Her winged companion was right on all accounts and it frustrated her. Why should they care?

The old feelings of anger and resentment upon which she had once relied so heavily boiled up inside her again like an awakening volcano.

Did they think she was weak?

Hatred rose in her throat at the thought and heat flushed her pale face, running down her arms and into the tips of her long fingers.

Yet there was no longer a clear target on which she could focus her rage. The Solarians, whom she had despised for so long, were no more; a shattered people left scrabbling at the dust of their civilization in the midst of a shattered land. Nor could she hate Kayle, Talon, Lux, or the hundreds of refugees she was helping them guide to safety. None of them warranted such passions, no matter how annoying they were. Thus, with no purpose or direction, the emotions which seethed inside the Lunarian drained away as quickly as they had arisen, leaving only exhaustion and an empty void in her chest.

"Very well," she finally replied, heaving a frustrated sigh and glancing down again at the rippling soil beneath them. "I will pass off the watch to Luxanna in an hour."

"Lux just finished her watch," Kayle reminded her calmly, "and though she is very tough for her age, I would not trust her ability after 24 hours of sleeplessness and hard marching.

"Then I'll trade it with Talon!" Diana snapped, "hell, just find someone else in the camp with a decent pair of eyes in their skull to take my place!"

Kayle merely nodded, satisfied, and with a dip of her right wing she dropped sideways towards the ground and pulled herself back up, now flying back the way she'd come.

Diana clenched her right fist over the hilt of her sickle and whirled around, gazing out over the blasted wasteland below one more time. Far off in the distance, thin, tortured peaks rose into the sky, glinting dully under the fading light of day. The great watchtowers of Piltover were all that remained of the City of Progress and these miserable people she and her fellow champions shepherded were the last of its denizens. The desert had claimed the rest.

 _A warrior is only as strong as her mind._

Kayle's words swirled around in her head as she gazed out over the sandy expanse before her. The ruined towers in the distance seemed to echo in reply _"and a city is only as strong as its walls."_ In the wake of the emotions which their encounter had elicited, a cold chill began to grip Diana's heart. She wasn't weak. Kayle knew that, everyone knew that. Hadn't she proved herself a hundred times over on the Fields of Justice and a dozen other battlefields beside? She was _not_ weak.

 _So why do I feel so... hollow?_

With a single movement she jerked the sickle from her side and swept it out in a wide arc, letting the power she had restrained earlier now course through her freely. Silver light flared blindingly bright along the edge of the curved blade, carving a defiant crescent slash of moonlight across the darkening horizon. The Lunarian finished her swing and held the pose for a second, the weapon stretched out to her right at arm's length. She held the memory of that pure light as long as she could, then put her sickle back in its belt loop. She had hoped the display would calm her, but it only confirmed what she had felt during the accidental clash with Kayle: her lunar power was responding more sluggishly than before.

 _I am_ not _weak._

She stood there for a moment more, letting the magic slowly subside from her limbs, fighting off the familiar, growing fear that had been stalking her for weeks. For a moment, it threatened to overwhelm her. Then she turned her thoughts inward, calming her racing heartbeat and thoughts the way she had once done after League combat. The way Kayle had taught her.

She was a warrior. True warriors did not let their fear overcome them, true warriors did not dwell on 'what if's.

True warriors were _never_ weak.

She glanced down once more and observed the ground. The tremors had calmed enough for foot travel and it behooved anyone with half a brain to make the most of that opportunity. Muttering a prayer to the moon for safety, she leapt gracefully down and set out quickly for the lights of the camp, which now flickered dimly in the growing darkness.


	3. Chapter 2: Shadow Signs

_Well that took an embarrassingly long time. The good news I ended up writing two chapters in one, so I essentially have the 3rd chapter already written. It should be done within the week after I polish it up. Enjoy and please leave any thoughts you may have about the story in a review! I read everything. ;-)_

 _-RP_

 **Shadow Signs**

Violet light broke over the sleeping camp to announce a new morning. Talon watched from a distance as the first early risers began to stir and move about, uncovering coals for morning fires and preparing what little food they had available. His eyes felt heavy after the night's long vigil, but he easily ignored it. Sleep was one of the many conveniences he'd learned to live without during his years growing up on the streets of Noxus. One of the many reasons he'd been so good at his job.

More activity stirred below and wisps of smoke from the numerous cooking fires began to rise straight up in the windless morning air. Talon permitted himself a sigh and shifted his position. The ex-assassin was not foreign to waiting for prolonged periods of time, but he was a hunter, not a sheep-dog. As he watched the helpless masses below him, his ego rankled for the hundredth time. He should have been part of the scout expedition to the Fall, but instead here he was, stuck with the thankless job of herding thousands of whining, sniveling, _weak-willed..._

 _rrRrrRrrrrrrRrRRRrrrr_

Talon paused in the middle of his mental tirade and perked up his ears. That didn't sound familiar, but then there were many strange, new sights and sounds in Runeterra these days. It was the end of the world, after all.

 _rrrrrrrRRRRRrrrrRrRRRRRRRRR_

 _Underground._ He bent low and gently laid a cowled ear against the rock he'd been standing on. Long seconds ticked by without event, but an assassin is, above all, patient: Talon waited motionlessly, every fiber now tensed in anticipation as his old hunting instincts stirred once more. He was rewarded with another long, low rumble coming up through the earth.

 _That's not a tremor._ Talon rose to his feet and shielded his eyes to survey the landscape sprawled out below the cliff on which he stood. The crumbling city stood out stark and clear against the violet horizon and the shifting landscape had kicked up a dust storm in the lowlands overnight, but otherwise nothing had changed. Still, that was no reason to assume nothing was wrong. These days, solid rock could become a deadly, inescapable sludge in minutes.

The assassin remained poised, using every sense available to probe his surroundings for any more unusual signs, but nothing else manifested. Talon turned and headed back to camp at an easy jog while his mind began to sort through the report he would give to Kayle. End of the world or not, his gut instincts told him that those growling sounds spelled bad news for their immediate chances of survival. And if there was one thing Talon trusted, it was himself.

* * *

"Are you serious?!"

Lux stared at Talon with disbelief etched in her girlish features. All four champions were gathered in a small tent near the outskirts of the camp where hopefully no one would be able to overhear their conversation.

"I am," Talon replied evenly, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the rest of the camp. "This ridge isn't safe for us, let alone them."

"We only just got here," Diana protested angrily. "We lost a lot of time-"

"-and people!-" Lux blurted.

"-Yes, and those too, just to gain this position," Diana continued with an annoyed glance at the Lady of Luminosity. "And now you want us to go back down to the plains just because you heard strange noises?"

Talon glowered at the two women as he replied, "like I said before, it's just a hunch. Frankly I don't care what you choose to do, I'm just here to scout."

Lux massaged her temple between thumb and forefinger. The Lady of Luminosity had a reputation for being cheery and easygoing, but this Noxian assassin was clearly beginning to get under her skin.

"Look Talon, I realize you aren't used to the concept of 'escorting' people and that you could probably survive in the lowlands on your own. However, these people can't. It's been weeks since the Falls first formed and we still haven't seen anyone from Piltover cross the pass, despite the fact that they were the first to begin mass evacuations after the event."

"I am well aware that the mob is incapable of protecting itself," Talon interrupted rudely. "The concept you aren't used to is me not caring."

"We could lose hundreds just trying to reach the bottom!" Lux protested with clenched fists, "let alone trying to cross the plains! There's still miles and miles between us and the Ironspikes. It'll be a miracle if even half of the people make it there."

"Then at least you will be better able to protect the few that remain" Talon replied evenly. _And good riddance to more unnecessary burdens,_ he added mentally.

Lux gripped her staff tighter and her face flushed red with anger, but before she could utter another word, Kayle intervened.

"Talon, I trust thy instincts. Were our party a small one that we could easily manage, I would not hesitate to follow your advice. However, the entire point of this mission is to rescue these people and thou knowest well that we have already lost many simply to gain this position."

The assassin snorted derisively, but Kayle continued: "Thou art of Noxus, well-versed in putting the needs of the many over the needs of the few. If thou canst honestly tell me that we can save more by leaving the ridge than remaining on it, that is what we shall do. Otherwise, we shall stay the course."

Talon bit the inside of his cheek.

 _Damn her._

She had put the responsibility of the entire mission on his shoulders and he knew as well as they that leaving the relative safety of the ridge would spell certain death for many of the soft city folk they were trying to rescue. And he would take all the blame.

The three women looked at him expectantly; Lux a picture of worried anticipation, Diana wearing a murderous frown, and Kayle's impassive, helmeted face waiting silently for his answer.

 _You shall pay for this, Kayle. No one backs me into a corner like that, especially not a Demacian._

"We will stay," he said aloud through gritted teeth. Lux's face brightened visibly and Diana relaxed her grip on the haft of the silver sickle.

"Let's hope for their sakes it's the right choice," he added grimly.

"For their sakes and our own," Kayle rejoined calmly.

 _I will skewer you and wear your wings as a cape, birdbrain,_ he swore darkly.

They broke camp early that morning and ate what they could as they traveled. Talon stayed ahead of the main group as was his wont, acting as the forward scout. He couldn't stand to be near the whining masses and he got the distinct impression that his fellow-champions preferred his absence as well. Win-win, as far as he was concerned.

By midday they had already covered several miles with remarkably little interference from the terrain. It was the best progress they'd had since leaving the crumbling remains of Piltover and Kayle, Lux, and Diana did their best to encourage the people to keep moving, distributing water and dried food as they walked to circumvent pleas for a "lunch break." Talon, as usual, was moving ahead of them and reporting back whenever he encountered an obstacle in their way. His nerves were on edge throughout the day and his distrust of their route only continued to increased. He kept feeling unusual vibrations, or catching half-imagined glimpses of strange sights. However when he reported these things, no one else seemed to have noticed them. Between the other Champions' attitude and the indecision which had arisen in him since that morning's argument, the lone Noxian became increasingly sullen and silent.

Towards the evening, Talon forged ahead at an accelerated pace to look for a suitable spot to camp for the night. He was rewarded by a wide, flat area set between two spurs on the leeward side of the next mountain. It appeared to have been a small wood at one time, judging from the blasted stumps protruding from the ground at irregular intervals, but now only a few scraggly Thorncrowns remained scattered near the upward slope of the mountain, their sparse, needly canopies tilting towards the minor shade it offered.

Talon skirted the area twice, checking for any signs of recent passages either by animals or people. There were no footprints and the area looked largely undisturbed since the wood had been razed, yet something about the area made Talon feel ill at ease.

His observations were suddenly interrupted by the sound of running water. Quickly but cautiously, he made for one of the spurs and located a tiny rivulet running on the other side. They hadn't seen a drop of water since entering the wasteland surrounding Piltover and there was no telling when they would find more. This alone was worth stopping for, even if Talon felt like the entire mountain was waiting to ambush him. He turned to report back to the herd and hear what the other Champions had to say about the matter (though he was already fairly sure what their answer would be).

Just then, out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of light from underneath a nearby fallen branch of Thorncrown. He paused and turned to look, one hand subconsciously reaching for his dagger.

 _A rock? No, rocks aren't nearly that round or smooth._

He took a few steps closer. Now he could see the dull gleam of metal and some weird glyphs etched on the object's surface.

 _Magic. Gotta be magic, that's mage-writing if I've ever seen it._

Talon was inclined to simply leave it. Magic wasn't his forte and he had no use for it anyway. His skill and his blade was all he needed.

Then the sphere moved.

Like a lightning strike, the assassin leaped forward and pinned the sphere to the ground, pressing the top of one blade against the metal surface so hard he scratched it. The thing offered no resistance, but he could now see the glyphs clearly. They still made no sense to him, but now that he could see the thing up close, it looked strangely familiar. It rattled faintly and rocked a little in his hands, as if impelled by some weak, inner force, but it wasn't going anywhere in a hurry.

 _I've seen this before,_ he thought. Worry began to plague him, fueled by the ever-present tingling in his spine, warning him that there was something wrong here. _Why do I recognize this mage-toy and what's it doing way out here?_ He scanned the area once more and noticed something he hadn't before: a jagged gouge in the mountain spur on the water side. It ran quite a distance and seemed to go fairly deep into the soil and rock. Talon's memory stirred at the sight and he rose quickly and trotted over the spur to look down into the clearing on the other side again.

Yes, there was another gouge in the mountain face at the back of the clearing. Why hadn't he paid attention to it earlier? Now that he was looking more closely, he could also see several wide indentations in the clearing that had been half-filled by sand and debris. _Blast craters._

Leave, his mind silently pleaded, but the Noxian was seized with morbid curiosity now. He went back to where he'd found the sphere, only to discovered that it had somehow moved a few yards up the spur and come to rest against the base of a Thorncrown tree. Talon stooped to retrieve it, but then quickly withdrew his fingers. Something else gleamed under the exposed roots on the downhill side of the tree.

Fingers. Not fleshy ones, but perfect metallic replicas. His blood ran cold as he pull on one and was rewarded with a complete hand, minus the smallest digit. He recognized this.

Quickly he scanned the spur and water source once more. Now that he knew what he was looking for, the evidence became readily visible. Two toes and some loose wires marked the remains of a mechanical foot. A few nuts and bolts held together a curved sheet of half-buried metal that might once have formed a torso.

Suddenly, he dashed forward and plunged his hands into the muck where the pooling water ran off and soaked into the arid soil of the mountain. He rose with a head grasped firmly in his muddy hands.

The back of the metal head was facing him, but he could already tell that it, too, had suffered massive damage. It was horribly bent and melted. He flipped it around to reveal a ghastly, but familiar face- no, an _imitation_ of a face, mangled almost beyond all recognition- staring up at him. The two eye sockets, which had once housed mysterious blue orbs now gazed emptily at him, their metal surfaces seared by intense heat. The face was scorched and there were gashes in three different places: each cut looked as if it had been made by something extremely hot. Only one of the artificial eyebrows still remained attached, dangling crazily above the left eye socket.

"Orianna," he muttered under his breath. The infamous construct had been created as a grieving father's attempt to restore life to his dead daughter, but quickly became an unholy terror of the Fields of Justice. Talon still remembered their encounters, especially her soulless, unblinking eyes, which always stared at him with an artificial curiosity that made his blood run cold. Piltover had been her home too, but why was she out here? Constructs could survive far longer than humans in the decaying city and Orianna was far above the average construct.

A million questions shot through Talon's mind at once, but they were interrupted by a creaking sound emanating from Orianna's disembodied head. Her mouth was moving, leaking garbled, mechanical sounds. The hair on Talon's back was rising with every passing second and goosebumps were beginning to break out all over his skin. There was something very, very wrong here. Every inch of his body screamed "flee!" but his curiosity had the better of him. He remained kneeling next to Orianna, watching in horrified fascination as her mouth moved back and forth.

"Orianna, can you hear me?" he asked.

The mouth moved some more and the eyebrow trembled slightly.

"What did this to you? Why are you out here?" Talon was getting impatient. He should have left this place long ago, yet he couldn't abandon his investigation now.

"Ball." she rattled.

"Yeah, I found your ball," he agreed, referring to the metal sphere he'd first discovered.

The mouth moved spasmodically as it she were trying to say more, but all that came out was a slow dribble of trapped water.

"Orianna, why are you out here?"

A sudden breeze slapped the assassin in the face and he got the unmistakable feeling that someone- or something -was staring at him.

"Ball!" Orianna repeated desperately.

Then an eerie pink glow lit the entire mountainside.

"Oh sh-" was all Talon could manage before he tucked and rolled to avoid a devastating ray of purple-pink energy plowed through the top of the spur and raked straight down the slope.

The assassin rose and fled, clutching Orianna's head under one arm while the other helped him maintain his balance on the rocky soil. Behind him a deep, otherworldly voice boomed: "MORE TEST SUBJECTS. WONDERFUL."


	4. Chapter 3: Two Steps Forward, Three Back

_Well, I said it would be done within a week, so... close enough?_

 _Sorry for the wait again._

 _Oceanbourne: Thanks! Glad you like it so far. I understand why you think Kayle's voice sounds strange, but it's kinda my headcannon for her. She and Morgana are both from an ancient culture and if you listen to their VAs in-game they have some of that old-fashioned style in their voices. That said, I do need to be consistent, so I'm going back and changing her voice in Ch 1 too._

 _Onwards!_

 _-RP_

 **Two Steps Forward, Three Back**

Traveling on a ridge made for easier movement over mountain ranges and offered the best possible chance of surviving a Runic Event, but it had its own distinct disadvantages. The biggest problem was the heat. Due to the interference of the powerful magic escaping Runeterra's ruptured core, massive climate changes had caused the massive Shurima Desert to shift into the northeast region, bounded by the ever-frozen Ironspike Mountains. As a result, both Zaun and Piltover were surrounded by miles of blazing hot, sandy wasteland.

"Are you _trying_ to kill us?" a woman complained, holding a screaming baby in her sunburnt arms as Lux tried unsuccessfully to heal the burns with her light magic. "You Champions promised to help us, but all you've done is taken us from our homes and forced us to match across this gods-forsaken desert!"

"Ma'am, I already told you," Lux explained as patiently as she could while retaining her focus on the healing process, "this is the safest way we could find. The plains are just as dangerous and-"

"Then why leave at all?!" the woman protested, "Zaun isn't evacuating, so why should we?"

"Zaun didn't suffer from a major earthquake," Diana replied, walking up from behind Lux. "We told you to cover up out here. There isn't as much dust as there was in the city, so the light is more concentrated."

"We never had a problem with the sunlight before!" another man observed, "and the heat is just as bad in the city as it is here."

"The Runic magic coming from the world's core is strong..." Lux tried to explain.

"We're tired of your excuses!" someone else chimed in, "why couldn't we just sail out?"

"Have you seen the sea lately?" Lux returned grimly, "not even the Bilgewater pirates are willing to risk facing its wrath to plunder the hundreds of villages that are currently left unguarded."

"What about the Ionians?" another woman asked from her perch on a large stack of books. "They have promised their aid, yes? Let them bring airships here. They can easily land in Piltover and avoid the sea altogether."

That idea met with great favor and more people began to clamor: "yeah, we should go back!"

"It's safer to wait."

"The airships will come for us!"

"Please stop!" Lux protested, rising to her feet and waving her hands to get the crowd's attention, "don't you understand? There isn't time to wait. The city isn't..."

"It's safer there!" someone yelled back. "Yeah," another rejoined, "you stupid Champions know nothing. I bet the Institute sent you." More took up the cry. "Down with the Summoners and their puppets! It's their magic that's to blame for this in the first place!"

A rock suddenly hurtled out of the crowd towards the mage's blonde head. Before she could react, a silver blade sliced through the air in front of her, deflecting the projectile with a loud, ringing noise.

The noise died down almost instantly as Diana glared coldly at the crowd of city folk. Lux read her expression and placed a cautioning hand on the Lunarian's blade arm.

"Diana, I'm ok. You don't need to..."

Before Lux could finish, Diana crouched and summoned her power. She disappeared in a blinding flash of moonlight, reappearing a split second later in the midst of the crowd, accompanied by a loud, silvery blast which knocked everyone backwards. When the dust settled, the Lunar Herald stood alone, holding a young man by the neck in one hand and her gleaming sickle in the other. A jagged piece of rock dropped from his hand as he grasped helplessly at the hand that gripped his neck.

"You worthless oafs wish to go back to the city?" Diana spat through clenched teeth, "fine." She raised her weapon to the struggling man's neck and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I honestly don't care what happens to any of you. If you stay, you're doomed, and if you leave with us, you're probably still doomed. What I _do_ care about are my comrades. Those who offer them insult or injury have insulted and injured me as well and I will. Judge. Accordingly."

The silver blade pressed against the man's neck and he began to scream... then a kaleidoscope of magic enveloped both of them. Diana dropped her victim, surprise written on her face. Pure, white light twisted and wound itself around her body, acting like metaphysical mirrors that half-blinded and restrained her. She lunged against the spell, only to be thrown back. Her magical scythe couldn't make a scratch on the prismatic light either.

"Lux! Release me!" she roared.

Lux stood on the edge of the shellshocked crowd, gripping her staff in both hands while light spewed forth from both ends to form the prison around her friend. "We are here to _save_ them, Diana," she called, "not kill them."

"They do not wish to be saved!" Diana protested, "they offered you harm! I cannot allow such injustice to go unpunished."

"It's not your job to judge them!" Lux yelled.

"Damn it Crownguard, LET. ME. GO!" Lunar power flared dangerously, threatening to blind everyone again.

To Diana's surprise, the barriers disappeared. She turned to look incredulously at her friend. Lux was leaning on her staff, breathing heavily, her face obscured by her loose blonde hair.

"I cannot control you, Diana," Lux gasped. "Nor would I even if I could. I am your friend, not your master."

Diana stared at Lux, her chest still heaving from the exertion of escaping the bindings. She opened her mouth to say something, but a shuffling sound behind her warned that her victim was beginning to crawl away. Diana turned and stalked toward him, her sickle trailing behind her with the tip just inches above the ground.

"Diana, please..." Lux begged behind her, "you came to save them. Is this really how you want to be remembered, even now?"

The Lunarian did not reply. She caught up to her prey and planted a foot on his back, flattening him to the ground. The rest of the crowd backed away fearfully as the man gibbered and pleaded for his life. She towered over him, contempt etched in her features.

"Pitiful worm."

With one fluid motion, the sickle swung upwards and scythed back down, plunging into the earth with a hissing noise, but the man remained unharmed. The sickle had landed next to his head so close that he could test his face against the flat of the blade. Lux breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Diana gratefully, but her friend wasn't done yet.

"Know this:" Diana said to the man quietly, pointing at Lux, "you live only by her request. I will not brook further transgression against her. The next time I swing my blade, someone will die."

Heavy footsteps announced the arrival of the small contingent of Demacian soldiers that had accompanied the expedition. Diana yanked her sickle out of the ground and left the rest of the situation to them, grabbing Lux by the arm and quickly escorting her away from the refugees.

"Are you alright?" she asked brusquely.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Diana," Lux replied wearily.

"I take care of my associates."

"No, I mean yes, thanks for that too," Lux said, flustered. "You were great, but I was talking about letting that man live. We don't need to give them any more evidence to think we're ruthless mercenaries or part of a takeover scheme."

"Why did you let me go?" Diana demanded. "I know how strong you are: there's no way I could have overwhelmed your spell that easily."

Lux say down on a nearby rock, her shoulders sagging slightly. "Like I said, I'm your friend. I won't force you to make the decisions I think are best."

Diana smiled thinly. "That's a double-edged mentality if I've ever heard one."

"I know, but it's worked so far."

Lux leaned back to gaze into the purple sky. "I just don't understand, Diana. They still want to go back to their city despite the fact that it is disintegrating. Why won't they trust us? Any of us? I mean, I get why they don't like Talon or you -no offense- and Kayle can come across as a bit standoffish, but we've all done everything we can to get them to safety. It's not like we haven't gone over the plan with them half a dozen times already..." The young mage was nearly in tears of frustration by this point.

"It's hard to trust someone who represents the people that betrayed you," Diana answered quietly, kneeling beside her in the most comforting way she could manage.

"Speaking from experience, huh?" Lux replied wryly, wiping the glistening sweat from her eyes. She immediately regretted the question. Diana's posture stiffened and her face assumed a stint expression.

"Oh, no, Diana I'm sor-"

"Think nothing of it," Diana answered quickly. "You are well, and that's what matters right now. Come, we need to get this rabble under control and moving again."

Lux sighed and got up to follow her friend. This nightmare seemed to only get worse the longer it went on. She could only push onwards and complete the mission, knowing they would all be reunited with everyone once they got these people to the Freljord.

The two mages made their way up to the front of the crowd again. Evening would be upon them soon and if possible, they should find a good place off the ridge to rest. Lux was exhorting people to get up and start moving again as she walked along when a bright flash of pink light caught the corner of her eye. She turned to look, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

"Diana," she said, touching her fellow mage on the shoulder, "did you see that?"

"Yes." Diana shielded her eyes and peered out over the ridgeline.

"Where did it come from?"

"Not sure, but I think it was in-"

Another flash cut her off, this one brighter than the last.

"There!" Lux exclaimed, "on that peak ahead of us!"

A series of three smaller flashes in quick succession blazed over a spur on the mountain's left side. A few panicked women at the front of the caravan began to scream.

"Quiet!" Diana yelled in the general direction of the screams. "That doesn't look like Rune activity," Lux muttered. "Either way, I don't like the look of it."

"Nor do I," Kayle agreed as she dropped out of the sky and landed beside the two Champions. "I may well be wrong, but that is the work of a mage. Talon was scouting ahead, so if he is still alive he can hopefully enlighten us on the situation. For now, I think it behooves us to move these people out of harm's way."

A long pulsing beam suddenly blasted over the spur and raked across the sky, tearing straight through the dense blanket of magic in the atmosphere. For a split second, pure sunlight and blue sky shone through the jagged rip before the purple aura closed it up again.

Lux gripped her staff until her knuckles turned white. "Kayle!" Her voice was tense and sharp like a Demacian general. "Take the soldiers and get these people out of here NOW."

"Consider it done." Kayle flared her wings and drew her sword. Bright auburn flames bloomed along its edges as she leapt into the sky. "HEAR ME ALL!" she shouted down at the crowd in her best military roar, "WE NEED TO MOVE RIGHT NOW. FOLLOW THE SOLDIERS AND DON'T STOP MOVING UNTIL I SAY SO."

"Diana, with me." Lux turned and ran toward the glowing mountain, whirling her staff expertly. Diana soon caught up, bounding along with long, graceful strides.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked as they ran.

"Probably." Neither wanted to voice their suspicions: if the glow was who they thought it was, they were in for a major fight.

Beams of energy lit the rocks around them as they neared the base of the spur, accompanied by explosions and tearing noises. Then they heard a different sound coming from directly in front: the metallic ring of a blade being drawn. Lux cast her staff towards the sound as she hurtled over a fallen tree and scrambled up the slope. The magical weapon went spinning away, passing effortlessly through bracket and scraggly trees as if they didn't exist.

Suddenly a gloved hand shot out and caught her by the face, gripping her mouth tightly and stifling her startled scream. Another arm wrapped itself around her chest and roughly jerked her behind a tree, bringing Lux face to face with Talon. He released her quickly, making a shushing motion with his finger as he did so.

 _"What is your problem?!"_ she hissed at him angrily, _"I was trying to help you!"_

 _"If you want to die before the rest of us do, then go ahead and be my guest,"_ he replied, shooing her away with one hand. _"Otherwise, shut up and keep still. He'll be watching where that staff goes when it returns."_

 _"Then shouldn't we-"_ Lux' sentence was cut off as the staff suddenly whirled around the tree and back into her hands. Two things happened simultaneously: Talon disappeared from her side and a concussive blast sent her flying through the air like a rag doll.

Lux didn't have time to try to correct her fall with magic. The ground rushed up to meet her, but something stopped her just a few feet short of impact. The mage lay still, halfway between consciousness and dreams until a familiar voice commanded "Get up!" She opened her eyes to see Diana shaking her violently.

"GET UP AND FIGHT. WE NEED YOU RIGHT NOW," the Lunarian bellowed. Lux stood, wobbling slightly, and looked over her shoulder. Her blood ran cold.

A giant, pink eyeball floated in midair as it descended the hill with an eerie grace. Long tentacles gripped trees, rocks, or soil to push it along, leaving deep, smoldering grooves in whatever they touched. The thing was twice the height of a man and many times longer if it stretched its tentacles out fully. It radiated power and reeked of death, like all Voidborn.

"Vel'Koz," Diana growled.


End file.
